winner stories

Woody
Nine

A Fort Wayne retiree dodged traffic to run to a Lassus Handy Dandy to be sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him. And they weren’t.

Woody Nine won $50,000, a top prize on the $3 Wild Cherry Crossword Tripler Scratch-off ticket. Two top prizes remain for the ticket. Players must reveal 10 words in the crossword to hit the top prize.

For Woody, the last word revealed was “two.”

“That’s 10 words, no way! I had to look at that darn ticket three times,” Woody said.

That’s when he decided to run across the street. Well, “I can’t really run,” Woody joked, but he got to the retailer as fast as possible. They scanned the ticket and confirmed he had a big win on his hands.

Woody and his wife, Cheryl, said they barely slept before rushing to claim the prize. They didn’t want anything to happen to the ticket. They were still processing what Woody called “the thrill of winning.”

“It just gives you breathing room,” Woody said.

The couple plans to put at least some of the money away for savings. They have bills to pay, as well, and Cheryl is looking forward to the holidays.

“It’s going to be a wonderful Christmas,” she said.

Woody and Cheryl have two teenage grandchildren. They brought their son, Scott, to Indianapolis to claim the prize all together. Cheryl is a 19-year employee of Walmart, and Woody is retired after spending his working life as a beer-maker and an engineer at North Side High School in Fort Wayne.

Fans of crosswords will also love the new Hoosier Lottery Scratch-off, $5 Blazin’ Hot Crossword Bonus. Just released this month, the ticket boasts four top prizes of $100,000.

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